Grant to help bring GetGo Kitchen to Cuyahoga Falls

In this file photo, a Giant Eagle GetGo gas station is pictured on the corner of Trunko Road and West Market Street in Fairlawn. Cuyahoga Falls will be getting an upgraded GetGo gas station in 2014 (Akron Beacon Journal file photo)

CUYAHOGA FALLS: With some assistance from the city’s Community Improvement Corp., Cuyahoga Falls will be getting an upgraded GetGo gas station.

Falls Development Director Sue Truby said the CIC is giving Giant Eagle a $150,000 grant for the project.

Giant Eagle has confirmed it will build a GetGo Kitchen, instead of the regular kiosk convenience store, with a price tag of $3.2 million at the corner of State Road and Portage Trail. The company had said that some financial incentive was needed from the city to move forward with the bigger project.

CIC’s grant followed City Council’s recent rejection of a property tax abatement for the project. By a vote of 7-4, the council rejected a property tax break that would have saved Giant Eagle $104,000 over four years.

Membership in the CIC is half city administrators and half developers, bankers and real estate agents. The CIC uses income the city receives from renting or selling property — not tax dollars — to provide business incentives. Council does not vote on CIC grants.

“They are a very business-minded board,” Truby said. “They understood the request from Giant Eagle and the urgency to move forward because the [Woodridge] school system needs the revenue.”

GetGo Kitchens are bigger than the normal GetGo kiosk. They include a coffee bar, fresh sandwiches, a grill, popular grocery items and a cafe with free Wi-Fi.

There are 11 GetGo Kitchens in Ohio, according to Giant Eagle spokesman Dan Donovan.

“We are excited to have received the needed support from the city of Cuyahoga Falls that will help us bring our latest GetGo Kitchen concept to the area in 2014,” Donovan said.

Because the GetGo Kitchen is larger, Woodridge schools are expected to receive three times the $6,700 annually it now receives from tax paid on the property.